Text as an Element: Culture

Whoopie Pies -- Pen and Watercolor

Practicing watercolor on a scrap sheet.

     For our first project in Art III, we were instructed to think about the word culture -- its meaning relative to us, relative to the world, and just in general -- and then create a piece incorporating text as an element with culture as its theme. To me, culture means many things, including general concepts like language and art, but I chose to make something themed around a culture specific to me: my Mennonite background.

Painting the watercolor background.

     Mennonites are a group of Protestant Christians who believe especially in pacifism, community, and following Jesus in everyday life. There are only a couple million of us in the world, and because of our small numbers, we Mennonites have formed our own special culture. For me, this aspect of my culture can be symbolized by a somewhat traditional and absolutely delicious desert: whoopie pies.
     Originally for my project I was going to use only pen and ink, creating the image of the whoopie pies using text from a recipe for them. This ended up being too mundane, so I used watercolors to add color and create a plastic-bag effect before writing the recipe over the contours of the pies and then adding in pen to outline the pies and plastic bag. Also, to try to make the bag more realistic, I crumpled up plastic wrap and placed it over the wet watercolors, making some parts lighter than others. I then painted over certain parts to adjust the shading to my liking. It's not my favorite project, but I do like the way the plastic bag came out.

If you look closely, you can read how to make your own delicious whoopie pies!